Faced with an increasingly difficult challenge in growing both average revenue per user (ARPU) and numbers of subscribers, network carriers are trying to develop a host of new products, services, and business models based on data services. One such service is call routing and voicemail services. While a lot of advances have been made in the Value Added Services (VAS) domain in general and voicemail technology in particular (to some extent revealed by the fact that basic voicemail services are essentially given away for free by most wireless and operators and many wire-line operators), not much has been accomplished in the callee centric control area.
As telephone technology moves toward an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture, legacy subscribers (e.g., non IMS subscribers) will include both wired subscribers using plain old telephone system (POTS) as well as cellular subscribers using the predominantly Signaling System 7 (SS7) infrastructure for call control, routing and completion, including handoffs between carriers that are part of the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN).
Existing telephone handsets do not support a ready interface that is relevant during call origination. Instead, existing handsets require the use of feature codes (e.g., Intelligent Network (IN) architecture) for call origination services, which require specific Class Five or better switch processing to receive and process the call request. As IMS is introduced to the telecommunications infrastructure, there will be a preponderance of non-IMS handsets (a combination of both wired and cellular subscribers) requiring continuance of the use of feature codes based approach for what is expected to be a extended migratory period. During the migratory period, systems and services that do not accommodate both IMS and non-IMS subscribers will be at a competitive disadvantage.
For example, many telephone users have experienced a situation in which their telephone rings at an inopportune time (e.g., during a business meeting). With conventional caller ID, the callee can determine who is calling. However, the callee cannot determine from caller ID whether it is a routine call or an urgent call from the caller. Thus, the callee is faced with the undesirable situation of having to decide whether to answer the call (and interrupt the meeting for a routine call that could have waited until later) or ignore the call (and possibly miss what was an urgent call from the caller).
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.